An unidentified Texas woman won an $83.5 million jackpot after buying a lottery ticket back in February. However, the fact that she used a third-party courier and a subsequent policy change has left her out of her millions. Now, she has sued the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) after not receiving her winnings.
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The unnamed woman paid $20 to a third-party courier back in February to purchase lottery tickets in North Austin. Her picked numbers, 19, 21, 25, 45, 47, and 52, as per the New York Post. These matched the winning numbers, earning her a whopping $83.5 million as a result.
However, a week after the February 17 draw, on February 24, the TLC issued a police statement, which prohibited lottery ticket courier services in Texas. As a result, the woman has been unable to claim her winnings.
On April 21, TLC executive director Ryan Mindell resigned amid investigations carried out by the state attorney general. Eight days later, on April 29, the TLC unanimously voted to ban couriers from selling lottery tickets.
Lottery Lawsuit
On Wednesday, May 21, the woman sued TLC’s acting deputy executive director. She is being represented by Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP. The firm stated, as per KXAN, “When you win, the Lottery should pay you – not stall, not waffle, not haw, not try and change the rules and not try to back out of the deal.”
“At no time has Sergio Rey or the Commission or anyone purporting to act on the Commission’s behalf advised (the woman) that the winning ticket is invalid, inauthentic, obtained by fraud, has an illicit chain of custody, or that any other unlawful conduct was involved in (the woman’s) procurement of the winning ticket,” the lawsuit reads, as per USA Today.
The unnamed woman wants her $83.5 million paid in full. Additionally, she is seeking injunctive relief to prevent the winnings from being diminished. Finally, she also wants her attorney’s costs to be covered by the TLC, as per KVUE.
“I’m being treated as the bad guy,” the woman told KXAN. “Sometimes there are reasons to investigate things, but I don’t think mine is one of them. If they had any qualms about that, they should have done something then.”
On February 24, the same day that the TLC issued its policy change, Texas Governor Greg Abbot directed the Texas Rangers to investigate the incident.